3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) is a useful raw material for the production of several compounds such as acrolein, acrylic add and/or 1,3-propanediol. The production and extraction of 3-HPA is thus important for the production of these final products. Currently, 3-HPA is produced from renewable raw materials using microbial means. One of the most commonly used methods includes the production of 3-HPA from glycerol using bacterial cells. However, 3-HPA in low concentrations is toxic to the cells and results in the cells dying and/or producing 3-HPA at low efficiency. The cells can thus not be used for a long period of time and 3-HPA production stops.
One way to protect the cells from being killed and to maintain the production of 3-HPA at high yield is to extract the 3-HPA from the production medium as it is produced or before it reaches toxic levels. This allows the cells to be reused and also allows for the unreacted carbon source to be used for production. There are several methods known in the past for 3-HPA removal. This includes in-situ reversible binding processes, use of in-situ semicarbazide-functionalized resins, chromatographic purification and the like. However, these methods are known to be inefficient and costly. These disadvantages do not allow for economic production and extraction of 3-HPA on a larger scale.
WO 2010/127970 discloses another method of in-situ removal of 3-HPA directly from the production medium. However, this method involves a complicated separation of 3-HPA that uses adsorbents such as hydrazides, hydrazines, hydrogen sulfites, sulfites, metabisulfites or pyrosulfites and the like. This makes the separation method again very costly.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an efficient and cost-effective selective purification process for 3-HPA where the cells may be reused for a longer period of time.